Easy Home Recording

Building A Home Recording Studio Without “Building” Anything

Ken Theriot — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 00:33:40 +0000

People often talk of building a home recording studio. The fact is – you can set up a home studio capable of recording and producing professional quality music, voice-overs, podcasts, video narrations, etc. without building a single thing. All you really need is a decent microphone – which is probably way less expensive than you think – and a way to hook the mic up to your computer, which can be either directly via a USB mic, or through an audio interface. The latter will ultimately be the more professional way to go, giving you cleaner and better sound.

Here is a 2-part video series that will walk you through how to set up your own home recording studio without having to build a darned thing.

Part 1

How to Build A Home Recording Studio – Part 1

Part 2

How To Build A Home Recording Studio – Part 2

Enjoy!

How to Build A Home Recording Studio: 5-Part Series

Ken Theriot — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 21:26:54 +0000

Hey everyone! I wanted to let you know, before the weekend in case you have big plans to start doing some awesome music or voice-over recording, that the 5th and final article in the series has been posted. You can see that post, which discusses recording accessories like mic stands, cables, pop filters, shock mounts, etc, at this link: www.homebrewaudio.com/how-to-build-a-home-recording-studio-part-5-accessories

If you have not already read the first 4 articles in the series, you can start on part 1 here: www.homebrewaudio.com/how-to-build-a-home-recording-studio-part-1

The idea here is to show how easy it is to put together an inexpensive computer-based home recording studio capable of recording and producing professional quality audio, quickly and easily. If you have a computer, and I’m not talking about a high-end-super-fast one, then you already have a bulk of what you will need.

If you plan to do primarily voice recording for, say, voice-over jobs, video narration, podcasts, etc, the only other thing you need is a good USB mic (not the headset kind – you want a large one) and some software. For entry-level professional quality, a mic like the Samson C01U will cost around $75-80. You can get started in the software department for free by downloading Audacity. For a big step up though, I always recommend Reaper, whose 30-day trial allows you to keep evaluating for as long as you need to (even beyond 30 days) and will only cost $60 for the discounted license. You’ll have to read about their insane fair pricing scheme here – www.homebrewaudio.com/how-to-build-a-home-recording-studio-part-4-software.

Basically this all means that pretty much anyone can afford to buy the things needed for a pro home recording studio. I so wish that had been true 20 years ago. Sigh.

Anyway – happy recording!

Ken

Setting Up A Computer-Based Home Recording Studio

Ken Theriot — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:42:38 +0000

Here is a post that is the first in a series explaining not only how to build a home recording studio using your computer, but also how to get the best possible audio quality from it for the least cost.

These posts will explain two types of gear configurations and offer 4 tips for creating the clearest and cleanest audio possible. You’ll also learn how to step into the “professional quality audio” level by using the 4 tips and a microphone costing less than $100.

You’ll also see how home recording studio configuration 2 is the foundation for even the highest-end professional computer-based studios, and how you can enter that world for as low as about $250.

See the part 1 of the series here: www.homebrewaudio.com/how-to-build-a-home-recording-studio-part-1

Review of The CEntrance MicPort Pro Portable USB Audio Interface

Ken Theriot — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:40:20 +0000

I reviewed a very cool little device yesterday that is about the size of a lipstick case, and yet it is a professional audio interface you can put in your pocket (if you need to) and take with you wherever you go. It’s called the CEntrance (no, that is not a typo) MicPort Pro.

You plug any standard microphone (by “standard” I mean witha 3-pin XLR connector) into one side of the MicPort, and plug the MicPort (via the included low-noise USB cable) into a USB port on your (or anyone’s – since it’s so mobile) computer.

The MicPort has a phantom power switch you can use for your condenser mics. It also has a headphone input that allows for zero-latency monitoring. All that stuff is on the tip of one end of the “lipstick case.” On the side are two knobs, one for controlling the input gain and the other for controlling headphone volume.
It has a high-quality A/D converter and preamp, which puts it into the category of “professional recording” in my book.

I recorded two audios, one with my usual set-up and one with the MicPort. Both used my Rode NT2-A microphone. Those two audios are on the full review, which can be found here:
www.homebrewaudio.com/review-of-the-centrance-micport-pro-audio-interface/

Guitar Recordings For “That Thing You Do!” Cover – Line 6 POD Farm

Ken Theriot — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:12:01 +0000

Folks were asking how the guitars and bass were recorded for the cover of That Thing You Do that I put out last week. They wanted to know if I used amps, and if so what kind. Also folks were interested in what microphones I might have used on the amps in question. Well as it turns out, I didn’t use an amps at all.

I used fake or modeled software versions of amps. I did this with a hardware/software combo called the POD Studio GX, by Line 6. It’s a small interface box that hooks up to your computer via USB. The interface has an input (standard quarter-inch plug) for a guitar or bass. POD Studio also comes with POD Farm, which is huge collection of guitar and bass amplfier models. The Line 6 site describes the collection as an arsenal of vintage and modern amps, cabs, studio-standard effects, classic stompboxes and preamps.

Read the full article here: http://www.homebrewaudio.com/guitar-recordings-for-that-thing-you-do-cover-line-6-pod-farm

Cover of “That Thing You Do” – Record a Rock Song on Your Computer

Ken Theriot — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:12:28 +0000

If you were wondering whether it was possible to record a song, specifically a rock song, on a (very) modest home recording studio, take a listen to this. It’s a 1-man-band cover of the song That Thing You Do, (written by Adam Schlesinger for the movie of the same name) recorded from scratch on my computer-based home recording studio set up in a spare bedroom.

Why did I do it (other than just being cool)? I wanted to demonstrate what kind of thing can be done, by just one person, with a basic home music recording studio.

Check out the full post, with a list of gear used, here: http://www.homebrewaudio.com/cover-of-that-thing-you-do-record-a-rock-song-on-your-computer

Always Keep Up On New Audio Recording Gear

Ken Theriot — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:11:26 +0000

New equipment for your home audio recording studio is being unveiled every day. You can keep informed of all new arrivals for pro audio gear as it arrives at B&H Photo-Video-Pro Audio by checking in with us as often as you like. The link will take you to the B&H page for just pro audio gear, and just the absolute latest newest releases. They update it every day.

Here is the page to bookmark: http://www.homebrewaudio.com/new-arrivals-pro-audio-equipment

Also don’t forget that we have tons of tutorials and “how-to” articles at Home Brew Audio. Those we update pretty much daily as well.

See ya there!

Ken

www.homebrewaudio.com

Finish Long Voice-Over Jobs Faster

Ken Theriot — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:18:22 +0000

Here is a tip that can really help you shorten the process of recording and producing long voice-over jobs, such as audio books, or any other job that requires reading and recording paragraphs of text at a time. Very few of us are perfect, and we often make little mistakes as we read. This tip will allow you to keep on going without stopping the recording process, while at the same time, giving you a quick way to delete the mistakes when you’re all done recording.

Read the full article here: http://www.homebrewaudio.com/how-to-finish-long-voice-over-jobs-faster

Cut, Copy or Paste Parts of a Song

Ken Theriot — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:54:09 +0000

It is very handy to know how to quickly and accurately cut, copy and paste audio. It’s especially useful when dealing with music. You can slice up a song to make it longer or shorter, or if you are recording your own song you can copy bits that are particularly hard to play or sing, but that repeat throughout the song. Just play it right one time and then copy and paste it whenever it needs to appear in the song.

One very helpful tool for doing all of this is the “snapping” tool in any audio editing software. This allows you to ensure that cuts and moves are musically correct. See how to use the snapping tool to do this in the article here: http://www.homebrewaudio.com/how-to-quickly-and-accurately-cut-copy-or-paste-parts-of-a-song

Omnidirectional or Directional Microphones? Huh?

Ken Theriot — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:41:02 +0000

Do you have a directional microphone? Maybe you have an omnidirectional mic. Maybe you have a mic that can do all the different microphone polar patterns. You did know about the different mic patterns right? What’s the difference? Why should you care?

Well as with anything else, the more you know about something the better you can usually use it to get the most out of it. In this case it might be important to know if you have a cardioid mic if you do voice-overs and would like to get a deep, bass-y sound out of your voice without having to futz with EQ or other audio effects. With a cardioid all you have to do is get your mouth closer to the mic and take advantage of the “proximity effect.” Or maybe the sound has too much bass. Then you’d know that getting a bit further from the mic will make the audio sound even less bassy. This knowledge can be really handy.

Maybe you want to do stereo recording but don’t have a stereo mic, or don’t have two of the same model of mic. If you have a cardioid mic (most mics) and one capable of figure-8 (or bi-directional mic) recording, you can make use of mid-side stereo recording.
Find out about all these things in the latest article at Home Brew Audio: http://www.homebrewaudio.com/directional-and-omnidirectional-microphones-what-are-they-good-for